


Remembering Roses

by Quinntessellate (TheBlackQuinn)



Category: RWBY
Genre: Bonding, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Gen, Pre-Volume 3 (RWBY), Reminiscing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:16:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25668820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBlackQuinn/pseuds/Quinntessellate
Summary: Ruby dreams of her childhood.
Relationships: Ruby Rose & Summer Rose, Ruby Rose & Yang Xiao Long, Summer Rose & Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	Remembering Roses

Ruby Rose found herself dreaming of her youth, a time when the world didn’t seem quite as harsh as she would later learn as she grew up. She saw glimpses of herself as a child, a tiny red bundle of energy trying to catch up with an older blonde girl. Even back then, Ruby was inseparable from Yang, her older sister. They spent all their time together, be it eating, sleeping, messing with their Uncle Qrow, or in this case, playing tag. The younger girl was panting, clearly falling behind. The other child looked back at her and stuck her tongue out mockingly. “I don’t like this game!” Ruby said in between breaths.

“Aw, you’ll catch me eventually, Rubaby,” teased the blonde haired girl. The younger girl let out an annoyed cry when she heard the nickname she hated so much. “You just have to learn how to run faster!”

“I can’t! And don’t call me that! You know I hate that name!”

Yang chuckled and slowly came to a stop. A few moments later a wheezing crimson haired girl was in front of her. “Come on, Rubes, how are you gonna keep up with other huntresses when you can’t even keep up with me?”

“I’ll learn how to run faster!” Ruby cried. She was gonna be a great huntress! Maybe she was a bit slow for someone her age but she’ll do her best to go faster! She wasn’t gonna let Yang’s teasing come between her destiny!

“You don’t just learn how to run fast, you gotta work for it, kid!” said Yang, which sounded a little ridiculous coming from a little girl doing her best impression of a cool mentor character from TV.

“Th-then I’ll do what I have to do!” Ruby stood a little straighter and put on as straight a face as she could muster.

The older girl smirked evilly and clasped her hands. “Even if you have to stop eating your precious cookies?”

Ruby gasped and considered her options. Would she be able to abandon her beloved foodstuffs for a chance to become the world’s greatest huntress? But she’d die without her cookies! She would explode without consuming enough chocolate chip cookies at least once every few hours! She’ll just have to find a way to convert the energy from eating all that sugar into energy for kicking Grimm butt.

“I definitely can. Definitely.” Ruby hoped her sister wouldn’t be able to see through her lie, but just then a voice called out to them from the trail leading to the village.

“Hey girls,” said Summer Rose, kneeling down and greeting the girls with wide open arms. She was so beautiful, with her black hair with red tips and mesmerizing silver eyes, coupled with her distinctive white hooded cloak. She was back from her latest mission, it seemed. Her children ran to meet her as she approached the house.

“Mom!” Both of them hugged their mother as tightly as they can. Summer laughed and returned the motion. After a minute of giggling and wholesome hugging, Yang and Ruby pulled away. Excitement about their mom’s latest huntress adventure was evident in their eyes. Ruby in particular was burning with questions.

“How did your mission go? Did you get to fight any Grimm? Did you get to fight Beowolves? Ursai? Did you fight a Nevermore?!”

“Slow down with the questions, dear!” Summer chuckled. “It was only an escort mission, and not a particularly eventful one at that. I didn’t fight any Grimm, so sorry to disappoint.”

“Aw, that’s no fun.” Ruby pouted and blew a raspberry, which made her mother chuckle once more.

“Well, fighting Grimm isn’t the only fun I have with being a huntress,” the white-cloaked woman explained. “Sometimes just doing the job and protecting people is all the fun I need!”

Yang shook her head disapprovingly and narrowed her lavender eyes at her mother. “I’m with Ruby on this one, mom. I want to be a huntress so I can bash some Grimm! Who wants to waste their time doing boring stuff like that?”

“You’ll understand eventually,” the huntress told the girl. She ruffled Yang’s hair, only succeeding in annoying her. The blonde girl growled in turn and pushed the hand away. Summer smiled, then turned to look at Ruby.

Their silver eyes met, and all of a sudden--

She woke up to darkness, but that was to be expected, given that she wore an eye mask to sleep. Taking it off, she looked around the dorm room from atop her bunk and saw that no one else was awake. Yang was snoring loudly, Blake had her head under her pillow to drown out her partner, and Weiss was as graceful in her sleep as she was in everything else.

Ruby giggled quietly. She loved her teammates. She loved them in their entirety, all their strengths and weaknesses, their beauty and their flaws. She didn’t know going in that she would become as attached to them as she was now, but she wouldn’t give up this sense of belonging for anything in the world. Except maybe--

The lingering feelings from the dream struck Ruby, and suddenly she didn’t quite know what to do with the pain in her chest. Mom was gone. She had been gone for a long time now. Ruby knew and accepted that.

Then why did that dream make her hurt again?

Ruby got down from her bed, and started quietly pacing in the middle of the room, trying to clear her head. Mom was gone, and Ruby thought she’d move past all the pain, but... this, this team, this sense of found family, it reminded her of all the stories about Team STRQ Uncle Qrow told her.

Team STRQ, the very team that made her parents and aunt and uncle famous among their peers. But beyond that, it was that team that formed the longest and most meaningful relationships her mother will ever have had.

_Was this what it felt like, Mom? Finding people to love and them loving you back? Was this what you meant when you said those words to me all those years ago?_

Ruby stood still, closing her eyes and slowing her breathing. She smiled to herself.

_If so, then I understand now._

A snort came from Yang’s bunk. Ruby opened her eyes and saw her sister looking at her and barely holding in her laughter.

“What are you doing, you dork?”

Ruby let out a sigh, then a chuckle.

“Nothing. Just had a dream about Mom.”

“Oh.” Yang’s smile wavered. “You wanna talk about it, Rubes?”

Ruby shook her head and started to climb back up her bed. When she looked back at her sister, she still had a concerned expression.

As she lied back down, she heard Yang speak. “She’d be proud of you, y’know. You’ve gone so far and done so much. You’re not the little kid that would give up being a huntress just to keep eating sweets any more.”

“I don’t know about that last part,” Ruby joked. Yang laughed in return, glad that her sister wasn’t as sad as she thought she’d been. “But... I know that she would. She always was. And... she’d be proud of you, too.”

Yang didn’t respond for a moment. She turned over, hiding her face from Ruby. “Yeah... I know.”

Ruby smiled. She hoped her sister would be alright. She’d lost Mom, too, but Ruby was sure that her big sis would be strong enough to push forward.

“Good night, Yang.” Ruby closed her eyes.

After a brief moment of hesitation, the older girl replied.

“Good night, Rubaby.”


End file.
